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Chris: I read, Blondie…
Me: Aw, you’re reading about puffins?How cute.
Chris: I have a lot of time to kill while I’m stuck on the planes with the team
Me: Wait. OMG. What is this?
Me: photo of a teeny-tiny bracelet that hadn’t been tied
Me: Did you make a friendship bracelet for Puff?
Chris: One of the girls Miller lives with loves making them. After all those damn pictures, she thought Puff and I should match
Chris: Photo of his wrist resting on an airplane tray table sporting a blue and white beaded bracelet
Me: Adorable
Me: Photo of Puff with a blue and white bracelet on his right leg.
“Usual table, boys?”Pam, dressed in her usual pink shirt, smiled at us as we stepped inside our favorite breakfast joint. Before we could even respond, she grabbed two menus from behind the podium and was moving across the black and white checkered floor, past the booths and tables and red stools along the counter, at a pace that said she didn’t have time for us to fuck around. The almost seventy-year-old woman with blue-gray hair had the energy of six people in their prime.
While she waited for us to catch up, she dropped the menus on the glossy white tabletop and stepped back.
Emerson and I gave her appreciative nods and slid into the red padded bench seats on either side of the booth.
This place was on the map Avery had drawn for me months ago, and we’d been coming here every Tuesday since. At least when we were in town. It was clear this wasn’t a regular breakfast stop for her like I originally thought, since I’d yet to run into her here. Even so, we continued to come. The truth was, I enjoyed the mom-and-pop atmosphere, even if I’d never ordered the banana pancakes she’d drawn.
Pam pulled a pencil from behind her ear and slid the pad from her black apron. “Coffee and OJ for you, right, handsome?”
“Absolutely, beautiful.” Emerson, always the flirt, smiled. The woman was old enough to be his grandmother, but that didn’t stop him.
“Water?” she asked me.
After I’d given her a quick nod, she hustled off, slipping around the counter and hurrying along the polished silver wall to the drink station.
Neither of us opened our menus. After four months, we knew what we liked.
“Chris?”
At the sound of my name in such a musical tone, shock rocked down my spine.
Emerson looked past me and smirked. “Fucking finally.”
No freaking way she was finally here. I spun and looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, she stood not far from us, wearing a pair of ripped jeans. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her face was makeup free. Utter perfection. Though smiles didn’t come to me easily, when in this woman’s presence, I had to fight the urge.
I scooted out of the booth and strode for Avery, who was eyeing one of the backless red stools at the counter like she planned to sit there. The redhead from the bar was next to her.
“You stalking me, Blondie?” I asked, even though I was the one who had been coming here for months hoping to see her.
She rolled her eyes, but the smile she gave me was bright. “Stalking requires a pattern, not just a random accident. Who are you here with?”
“Emerson.” I half turned and lifted my chin. “Want to join us? We haven’t ordered yet.”
With a shrug, she turned to her friend. “You good with that, Jana?”
“Ooh, my clumsy little ball of joy is here? Maybe he’ll spill another drink on someone.” Jana rubbed her hands together and wandered toward Emerson. “Long time no see.” She scooted in beside him.
He leaned over to peck her cheek, then he rested his arm along theback of the red leather bench behind her. “My morning just got immensely more enjoyable, bebé.”
